Theme 3 - Governing with Citizens

Direct democracy can be, under certain conditions, a way of dealing with the citizen's disengagement from representative politics. A range of other ways of involving citizens in governance has emerged, fuelled by web and social media applications: participatory budgeting and crowdfunding for government projects, for example, give members of communities a voice in fiscal decision-making processes and invite them to deliberate on the local authorities' financial decisions. Are these phenomena confined to a few pioneering cities or are they heralding a shift towards participatory democracy?

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THEME 3 : Governing with Citizens

Today Direct Democracy is part of the Swiss identity and contributes to the integration and the well-being of the very heterogeneous Swiss society. It might be a source of inspiration to others how to overcome the crises of democracy although there are shortcomings it its implementation.

Is civic crowd-funding an adequate way of raising resources to fund public infrastructure and projects of cash-strapped local governments, increasing citizen engagement and ownership and giving a chance to smaller, less influential groups to promote their projects? Can it lead to weakening public authorities' responsibility in funding important services and works from the public budgets?

How successful participatory budgeting is in fostering dialogue and trust between citizens and authorities? What can we learn from experience in order to avoid tokenism and avoid alienating local elected officials who may feel deprived of their influence and prerogatives or that having the process hijacked by some interest groups?

Thanks to e-participation platforms run by local authorities, citizens in several major European cities are having more of a say in improving their city life. What are the lessons learnt and the obstacles to mainstreaming such approaches? This lab will be organised in a form of a "balloon debate" during which the participants will choose the best initiative.Thanks to e-participation platforms run by local authorities, citizens in several major European cities are having more of a say in improving their city life. What are the lessons learnt and the obstacles to mainstreaming such approaches? This lab will be organised in a form of a "balloon debate" during which the participants will choose the best initiative.